The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers eye a bowl berth with two games remaining. Those two games include the UTSA Roadrunners coming to L.T. Smith Stadium as well as trip to Marshall to take on the 18th ranked Thundering Herd. For the Hilltoppers a win in one of the final two games would make the club bowl eligible for the fourth straight season.
Now for the fans and more importantly the team have found out over the past three seasons that doesn’t mean you will be invited to a bowl. Over the past three seasons the Hilltoppers were only invited to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in 2012. That makes winning both of these two games even more important allowing the club to finish 7-5.
The first test comes this Saturday as they take on the 3-7 Roadrunners. The Roadrunners enter this game ranked 111th in both passing and rushing offense. The team has also averaged only 16.4 points per game compared to the 23.9 points they have allowed on the season. A win in this game would give the Hilltoppers a 6-5 record but move them back to 3-4 in the Conference USA.
The next test comes next week at Marshall who has yet to lose this season winning 10 straight games entering this weekend. The Thundering Herd will present a big challenge as they rank 7th in rushing, 32nd in passing, 2nd in scoring and 5th in points allowed. This would be the anchor win the team needs leading up to when bowl selections start to take place.
Currently the team’s biggest win came in the first game of the season against Bowling Green. Since then the Falcons have went 7-3 and currently lead the eastern division of the MAC. Currently Conference USA has five teams projected to receive a bowl bid including UTEP who the Hilltoppers beat on November 8th.
For now all the Hilltoppers can do is take care of their own business and the entire bowl process will play itself out.
by Peter Tebin